The present invention relates to (trichloromethyl)pyridine compounds useful for improving the feed utilization efficiency and for promoting growth in ruminant animals.
The agricultural industry is constantly in search of methods to improve the growth rate and the feed utilization efficiency in agriculturally important animals particularly ruminant animals.
It is well known that the efficiency of feed utilization by a ruminant animal can be monitored by chemical analysis of the rumen fermentation. Altering the carbohydrate fermentation to increase the concentration of propionate relative to acetate results in an improvement in growth rate and/or feed utilization efficiency in ruminant animals. In vitro rumen fermentation tests that measure the volatile fatty acid (VFA) production are indicators in determining if compounds are active in vivo in causing an increase in propionate levels relative to acetate levels. See. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,937,836; 3,928,571; 4,141,907; 3,839,557; and 3,794,732.
It is also known that inhibiting methanogenesis in the rumen results in an apparent decrease in gaseous loss of methane via eructation and a shift toward producing more desirable volatile fatty acids for growth of the animal, especially propionic and butyric acids. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,745,221; 3,615,649; and 3,862,333.
Altering nitrogen metabolism in the rumen, such as, by inhibiting amino acid deamination, enables the ruminant animal to utilize protein or amino acids more efficiently. See U.S. Pat. No. 3,862,333.
The compounds of the present invention cause a substantially complete inhibition of the formation of methane in the rumen. This substantially complete inhibition of methanogenesis in the rumen is an advantage that the present compounds possess over commercially available products, such as monensin, which cause only a partial decrease in the methane concentration in the rumen.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,135,594 discloses (trichloromethyl)pyridine compounds useful as nitrification inhibitors for conserving soil nitrogen and for supplying the soil nitrogen requirements for plant nutrition.
Heretofore, the compounds of the present invention have not been disclosed as compounds which improve growth rate and/or feed utilization efficiency in ruminant animals.